Power ranking of the AoA units, in the contemporary format which is the AoA only format.
This ranking assuming the games are played on tournament maps (low elevation changes, quite low sized) and with tournament sized armies ( =350 to 600 points)
A+ (Top dogs of the meta, you either want to have them or counter them)
Exiles of the Sundered Sea: Cheap 4 men squad, good vs range due to stealthy and honestly almost as good vs melee cause they usually get first shot and use the very simple but very effective "I kill you before you kill me" strat. Range 5 once per round and disengage basically allows them to target whoever they want, which is very big deal in a meta where you want to diminish activations and delete oms.
Frostclaws Paladins: Very sturdy squad, putting oms on them feels so safe and comfortable compared to most AoA units that are either fragile either have low amount of attacks per turn, they are very fast and once they close in ,if opponnent didn't manage to diminish their numbers beforhand, he's in for a bad time.
A (Challengers, the best army possible in the format also often includes those guys)
Fiestering Honor guards: Bonding, extremly cheap per figure good mobility, good defense for the cost, small but nice om insurance. Even not accounting for the Parasite thing which I think will have minimal impact in most games, the Guards+Maladrix combo is a very solid core for 220points.
Knight Primus Adelbern: Quite Beefy and very high DPS for a bonding hero, Crushing blow not working on large figures and hance BEARS is the reason he's not A+ and the reason Knight Irene stays relevant in the top meta.
Knight Irene: Very fast and beefy she'a good "in yo face" kinda character, she may have trouble vs ranged squads if she's left alone without the bears but overall just a strong Juggernaut.
Queen Maladrix: Bonding, quite beefy, decent mobility, double attack, just a solid juggernaut. See Fiestering Honor Guards.
Sonlen: Fly move 6, attack 4 (often 5 due to fly) from range 6, strong melee double attack to snipe a hero or 2 squads figures. I love this kit. Don't underestimate this new Sonlen who may gain the "Bear destroyer" nickname.
Tuck Harrigan: Great lategame clean'up figure, range and fly is extremly good in the lategame in Heroscape and long range is very rare in AoA. This guy has both for cheap cost. The order markers switch ability is very good to ensure you always get a good turn especially if you time your "roll for glide" turns correctly.
A- (Strong units, sometimes the top choice depending on tournament format and meta)
Fia Bonny: Great survavibility vs squads and ability to attack basically whoever she wants makes Fia the best choice for knaves and imo a good filler choice even tho she only has 1 attack per turn.
Halushia: Ride-In special attack with 7 move is something, Exiles or Knaves are not gonna like that at all. VS Bears the "go in go out" strategy to prevent Bears from getting 3 attack dice can be very annoying. Also decent beefiness for the cost.
Knaves of the Silver Scimitar: 4 men bonding squad for cheap cost and VERY high DPS, they basically have 4 attack and the 3 defense vs ranged help them to get at least one good turn of attacks.
Major Q11: As opposed to his previous versions this Major kinda wants to go in the fight. His triple attack is decent DPS and 4 lives 6 defense make it so you'll be able to use it a decent amount of times in a AoA only game. In case he gets tied up by a hero that 6 dice attack could do some work, overall very good versatile guy.
Onshu: Very high mobility and decent DPS for cheap cost, allows for some cool activations/oms delete plays. I expect the duo with Halushia to be very good.
B+ (Very rarely the top choice but still very good units)
Iron Lich Viscerot: Kinda low DPS but bonding with Necrotech and ability to attack basically whoever he wants makes him an interesting choice.
Necrotech Wraithriders: Good sharks, they will probably die soon after getting their target but will rarely fail to. The combo with Iron lich is costly but not bad even if I prefer Claws+Irene for less cost.
Oathbound Legionnaires: Alliexpress version of Honor guards and Queen Maladrix combo. Much weaker but cheaper, for 130 it's solid. I like that having guys spreaded out out together has pros and cons there's no obvious better form.
Oathbound Phallanx: Alliexpress version of Honor guards and Queen Maladrix combo. Much weaker but cheaper, for 130 it's solid. I like that having guys spreaded out out together has pros and cons there's no obvious better form.
Ordo Borealis: A good player will be able to play around them and mitigate their strengh but they still a solid squad. Having the longest range in the format makes them relevant.
B (Decent units, usually less reliable than top tiers ones but can still be very strong in the right situation)
Admiral EJ-1M: Turns out you don't need that much Pirates nearby to have a good raiding party turn, 2 pirates is enough, making raiding party a nice alternative if you run low on squaddies. Admiral orders synergize well with the high DPS low survavibility pirate squads, allows you to not gamble on init roll. That's said EJ1M is still very expensive and with the squaddies being so fragile, it's hard to make a full pirate army work.
Dorim the Bulkhead Brawler: Him and knaves is a decent "hit squad" for 165 but I usually prefer Fia, cheaper and more pratical to use once you're keft with just the hero or like 1 knave.
Mielki the Kyrie Warrior: Double attack of 4 is nothing to scoff at esp esp with fly you can often threat double 5, if you get the heal off on a key figure that's a very good turn, but the setup is complicated, also the "long range tower" kinda hero where Mileki would be good with are very few in the format and not that great.
Raelin the Kyrie Warrior: Being one of the few support units makes her relevant, also she's a very decent lategame fighter with twisted blade and 6 lifes she's better at fighting than your usual 3/3 kyrie hero. Killing a bear with twisted blade is also a very yummy moment.
B- (Playable units, not good but does their job somewhat okay)
Ewashia: While Ewashia + Onshu provides you with somewhat stable multiples ranged attack per turns, something very rare in AoA. the fact that Ewashia is basically an immobile tower is a big problem, create water being at the end of the turn is a every big con to her playability often feels like you have to kinda pass your turn to move her. Also 4 lives is hard to play with to build an army around her I would prefer if she was more beefy even if that would mean costing more. Also losing "longest range in the format medal" really place her into "irrelevant" state.
Glinerva the Kyrie Warrior: Glinerva could be very interesting in the right setup and there isn't many true support figures in AoA, but for now there's just not enough range in the meta to really justify taking her.
Sgt. Drake Alexander: If a ranged+support based army becomes popular I could see Drake going up, and use him as a can opener but for now he's just a filler lategame combat guy in which he isn't super bad but not super good aswell.
Vorid Glide Strikers: A decent amount of AoA only games finishing in a lategame scramble and few range in the format makes them playable, but they are still a very risky choice, the probability of them doing absolutely nothing is quite high.
C+ (Half-playable units, underwhelming most of the time, but can pull their weight on a good game)
Bor-Buk-Na: Can definitely pull his weight in some games with knaves if he gets lucky enough. But Fia and Dorim are more solid choice to me.
Cornelius Breech: For now I don't see any useful use of mutinery as 98% of time knaves will die before the hero, so this guy is just a filler stat ball. Dorim is better as melee bonder for knaves imo.
Raakchot Steward of Death: Not super bad because beefy and you can consistently get attacks of 4 or 5 but yeah nothing crazy for sure...
Shiori: Not the worst unit by herself, with multi attacks and good survivability with Kieru 14, but complete lack of synergy makes her a pure lategame cleaner standalone which is a lot of points just for that.
Xenithrax the Wineweaver: Both of her powers are very easy to play around and not super useful in the AoA meta. Very high cost for few qualities, 5 move fly and 5 range is good mobility but her sculpt kinda cancel that on most maps.
C (Bad units, they bad but they no megashit)
Hellforge Mandukor: Gonna be honest this guy seems very expensive and difficult to setup and get going to me.
Killina Vane III: Very Low range, low survavibility and the shotgun hitting allies is also annoying when playing with Knaves.
Kita the Springrunner: A single melee 2 dice attack is very bad and 2 lifes 4 defense isn't good survavibility for a melee unit. But you can still pick her in addition to Onshu in a beast build as Onshu may die fast, she can still being some kind of annoyance for small cost.
Loviatak the kyrie warrior: 4 lifes 3 defense on a melee hero is just super fragile, her aura is very hard to setup without bonding and the payoff of the move bonus isn't high enough for now, maybe with Utgar commons she could get better in the future.
Misaerx the kyrie Warrior: She's bad, but she only cost 50 making her a half decent filler option.
D (Megashit units, will be very hard to extract consistent value out of them)
Kilkorax the kyrie Warrior: If you want to grab multiples guys, use Necrotechs, you can even kill them both afterwards, wow! More seriously I don't think grabbing figures is THAT useful in AoA meta that you have to pay so much points juste for that, lots of squads have disengage or 2 lifes so can get away from Kilkorax if they really want to. Also it's on a 17+ on a hero making her basically unable to grab heroes is very bad. Necrotechs are just a much more versatile and safer choice if you want to grab guys and are cheaper...
Queen Qhyrion: 4 move for what is basically an assassin unit... rough. 4 lifes 4 defense... rough. 55% chance of a normal single attack of 4 with nothing else as a turn, rough. She desperately needs some kind of move boost synergy.
Thyraxis Dragoon: Experience has shown that battle frenzy isn't a good power, espcially for big guys like that. 195pts for a no synergy single attacking melee unit and a power that have only a 35% chance of triggering each round, no thanks.
Xiamara the kyrie warrior: While the combo with Mielki looks appealing, it's super difficult to setup as Mielki isn't a ranged unit, if Mielki could heal herself it would be strong, but she can't, so the opponennt does not need to target Xiamara and can just put wounds on Mileki slowly but surely.And even then 80pts for single targetted support like that, not worth. Attack does no wounds to Mielki? Useless. Attack does 1 wound? 75% chance of useless. Attack does 2 wounds? 35% chance of useless, that's way too much useless right there.
This ranking assuming the games are played on tournament maps (low elevation changes, quite low sized) and with tournament sized armies ( =350 to 600 points)
A+ (Top dogs of the meta, you either want to have them or counter them)
Exiles of the Sundered Sea: Cheap 4 men squad, good vs range due to stealthy and honestly almost as good vs melee cause they usually get first shot and use the very simple but very effective "I kill you before you kill me" strat. Range 5 once per round and disengage basically allows them to target whoever they want, which is very big deal in a meta where you want to diminish activations and delete oms.
Frostclaws Paladins: Very sturdy squad, putting oms on them feels so safe and comfortable compared to most AoA units that are either fragile either have low amount of attacks per turn, they are very fast and once they close in ,if opponnent didn't manage to diminish their numbers beforhand, he's in for a bad time.
A (Challengers, the best army possible in the format also often includes those guys)
Fiestering Honor guards: Bonding, extremly cheap per figure good mobility, good defense for the cost, small but nice om insurance. Even not accounting for the Parasite thing which I think will have minimal impact in most games, the Guards+Maladrix combo is a very solid core for 220points.
Knight Primus Adelbern: Quite Beefy and very high DPS for a bonding hero, Crushing blow not working on large figures and hance BEARS is the reason he's not A+ and the reason Knight Irene stays relevant in the top meta.
Knight Irene: Very fast and beefy she'a good "in yo face" kinda character, she may have trouble vs ranged squads if she's left alone without the bears but overall just a strong Juggernaut.
Queen Maladrix: Bonding, quite beefy, decent mobility, double attack, just a solid juggernaut. See Fiestering Honor Guards.
Sonlen: Fly move 6, attack 4 (often 5 due to fly) from range 6, strong melee double attack to snipe a hero or 2 squads figures. I love this kit. Don't underestimate this new Sonlen who may gain the "Bear destroyer" nickname.
Tuck Harrigan: Great lategame clean'up figure, range and fly is extremly good in the lategame in Heroscape and long range is very rare in AoA. This guy has both for cheap cost. The order markers switch ability is very good to ensure you always get a good turn especially if you time your "roll for glide" turns correctly.
A- (Strong units, sometimes the top choice depending on tournament format and meta)
Fia Bonny: Great survavibility vs squads and ability to attack basically whoever she wants makes Fia the best choice for knaves and imo a good filler choice even tho she only has 1 attack per turn.
Halushia: Ride-In special attack with 7 move is something, Exiles or Knaves are not gonna like that at all. VS Bears the "go in go out" strategy to prevent Bears from getting 3 attack dice can be very annoying. Also decent beefiness for the cost.
Knaves of the Silver Scimitar: 4 men bonding squad for cheap cost and VERY high DPS, they basically have 4 attack and the 3 defense vs ranged help them to get at least one good turn of attacks.
Major Q11: As opposed to his previous versions this Major kinda wants to go in the fight. His triple attack is decent DPS and 4 lives 6 defense make it so you'll be able to use it a decent amount of times in a AoA only game. In case he gets tied up by a hero that 6 dice attack could do some work, overall very good versatile guy.
Onshu: Very high mobility and decent DPS for cheap cost, allows for some cool activations/oms delete plays. I expect the duo with Halushia to be very good.
B+ (Very rarely the top choice but still very good units)
Iron Lich Viscerot: Kinda low DPS but bonding with Necrotech and ability to attack basically whoever he wants makes him an interesting choice.
Necrotech Wraithriders: Good sharks, they will probably die soon after getting their target but will rarely fail to. The combo with Iron lich is costly but not bad even if I prefer Claws+Irene for less cost.
Oathbound Legionnaires: Alliexpress version of Honor guards and Queen Maladrix combo. Much weaker but cheaper, for 130 it's solid. I like that having guys spreaded out out together has pros and cons there's no obvious better form.
Oathbound Phallanx: Alliexpress version of Honor guards and Queen Maladrix combo. Much weaker but cheaper, for 130 it's solid. I like that having guys spreaded out out together has pros and cons there's no obvious better form.
Ordo Borealis: A good player will be able to play around them and mitigate their strengh but they still a solid squad. Having the longest range in the format makes them relevant.
B (Decent units, usually less reliable than top tiers ones but can still be very strong in the right situation)
Admiral EJ-1M: Turns out you don't need that much Pirates nearby to have a good raiding party turn, 2 pirates is enough, making raiding party a nice alternative if you run low on squaddies. Admiral orders synergize well with the high DPS low survavibility pirate squads, allows you to not gamble on init roll. That's said EJ1M is still very expensive and with the squaddies being so fragile, it's hard to make a full pirate army work.
Dorim the Bulkhead Brawler: Him and knaves is a decent "hit squad" for 165 but I usually prefer Fia, cheaper and more pratical to use once you're keft with just the hero or like 1 knave.
Mielki the Kyrie Warrior: Double attack of 4 is nothing to scoff at esp esp with fly you can often threat double 5, if you get the heal off on a key figure that's a very good turn, but the setup is complicated, also the "long range tower" kinda hero where Mileki would be good with are very few in the format and not that great.
Raelin the Kyrie Warrior: Being one of the few support units makes her relevant, also she's a very decent lategame fighter with twisted blade and 6 lifes she's better at fighting than your usual 3/3 kyrie hero. Killing a bear with twisted blade is also a very yummy moment.
B- (Playable units, not good but does their job somewhat okay)
Ewashia: While Ewashia + Onshu provides you with somewhat stable multiples ranged attack per turns, something very rare in AoA. the fact that Ewashia is basically an immobile tower is a big problem, create water being at the end of the turn is a every big con to her playability often feels like you have to kinda pass your turn to move her. Also 4 lives is hard to play with to build an army around her I would prefer if she was more beefy even if that would mean costing more. Also losing "longest range in the format medal" really place her into "irrelevant" state.
Glinerva the Kyrie Warrior: Glinerva could be very interesting in the right setup and there isn't many true support figures in AoA, but for now there's just not enough range in the meta to really justify taking her.
Sgt. Drake Alexander: If a ranged+support based army becomes popular I could see Drake going up, and use him as a can opener but for now he's just a filler lategame combat guy in which he isn't super bad but not super good aswell.
Vorid Glide Strikers: A decent amount of AoA only games finishing in a lategame scramble and few range in the format makes them playable, but they are still a very risky choice, the probability of them doing absolutely nothing is quite high.
C+ (Half-playable units, underwhelming most of the time, but can pull their weight on a good game)
Bor-Buk-Na: Can definitely pull his weight in some games with knaves if he gets lucky enough. But Fia and Dorim are more solid choice to me.
Cornelius Breech: For now I don't see any useful use of mutinery as 98% of time knaves will die before the hero, so this guy is just a filler stat ball. Dorim is better as melee bonder for knaves imo.
Raakchot Steward of Death: Not super bad because beefy and you can consistently get attacks of 4 or 5 but yeah nothing crazy for sure...
Shiori: Not the worst unit by herself, with multi attacks and good survivability with Kieru 14, but complete lack of synergy makes her a pure lategame cleaner standalone which is a lot of points just for that.
Xenithrax the Wineweaver: Both of her powers are very easy to play around and not super useful in the AoA meta. Very high cost for few qualities, 5 move fly and 5 range is good mobility but her sculpt kinda cancel that on most maps.
C (Bad units, they bad but they no megashit)
Hellforge Mandukor: Gonna be honest this guy seems very expensive and difficult to setup and get going to me.
Killina Vane III: Very Low range, low survavibility and the shotgun hitting allies is also annoying when playing with Knaves.
Kita the Springrunner: A single melee 2 dice attack is very bad and 2 lifes 4 defense isn't good survavibility for a melee unit. But you can still pick her in addition to Onshu in a beast build as Onshu may die fast, she can still being some kind of annoyance for small cost.
Loviatak the kyrie warrior: 4 lifes 3 defense on a melee hero is just super fragile, her aura is very hard to setup without bonding and the payoff of the move bonus isn't high enough for now, maybe with Utgar commons she could get better in the future.
Misaerx the kyrie Warrior: She's bad, but she only cost 50 making her a half decent filler option.
D (Megashit units, will be very hard to extract consistent value out of them)
Kilkorax the kyrie Warrior: If you want to grab multiples guys, use Necrotechs, you can even kill them both afterwards, wow! More seriously I don't think grabbing figures is THAT useful in AoA meta that you have to pay so much points juste for that, lots of squads have disengage or 2 lifes so can get away from Kilkorax if they really want to. Also it's on a 17+ on a hero making her basically unable to grab heroes is very bad. Necrotechs are just a much more versatile and safer choice if you want to grab guys and are cheaper...
Queen Qhyrion: 4 move for what is basically an assassin unit... rough. 4 lifes 4 defense... rough. 55% chance of a normal single attack of 4 with nothing else as a turn, rough. She desperately needs some kind of move boost synergy.
Thyraxis Dragoon: Experience has shown that battle frenzy isn't a good power, espcially for big guys like that. 195pts for a no synergy single attacking melee unit and a power that have only a 35% chance of triggering each round, no thanks.
Xiamara the kyrie warrior: While the combo with Mielki looks appealing, it's super difficult to setup as Mielki isn't a ranged unit, if Mielki could heal herself it would be strong, but she can't, so the opponennt does not need to target Xiamara and can just put wounds on Mileki slowly but surely.And even then 80pts for single targetted support like that, not worth. Attack does no wounds to Mielki? Useless. Attack does 1 wound? 75% chance of useless. Attack does 2 wounds? 35% chance of useless, that's way too much useless right there.
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